


Thank You For Coming to My Tomfoolery Talk

by mementomoe



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Brief appearance by Alphinaud, Competition, Gen, Humor, Mention of Urianger, Students of Baldesion shenanigans, Studium-era friendship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22247197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mementomoe/pseuds/mementomoe
Summary: During Valentine's Day, the Students of Baldesion have a small party. Drinking and Music is there of course, but the main event instead is to give a speech.A speech that has no truth beyond the thesis statement.On the Line are two bottles of Bacchus Wine G'raha wants.
Relationships: Krile Mayer Baldesion & G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Thank You For Coming to My Tomfoolery Talk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [patrexes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/patrexes/gifts), [Arianne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arianne/gifts).



Winter is, as always, something G’raha doesn’t enjoy. After his youth in the warmer climes of Eorzea, Sharlayan’s chill barely lifts, even with the thick wool uniforms of the Studium. He envies those who are capable of channeling their aether. It would be a grand moment if he could light a small fire in his hands, for a moment. Alas, his previous attempts at thaumaturgy had ended in a migraine and his essay for Middle Allagan History destroyed.

Yet Krile wanted to meet him at a statue of Louisoix, so he’d wait there, tugging at the capelet of his uniform coat, watching his breath condense with every exhale. HIs tail wraps around his waist under the coat for the body heat as he looks around for his friend.

After a few minutes of chilling to the bone, he finally spots Krile as she makes her way between a few elezen students, two glasses in her hands.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Raha,” she says as she hands one. “Father had much to say in his lecture today. I hope some lemon tea works as apology.”

G’raha grins as he takes the offered mug. His hands warm up from the hot drink, followed by the heat sliding down his throat with the first sip.

G’raha had been a favorite student of her father since he arrived two years ago, so he knew Galuf Baldesion’s daughter before she started at the Studium. They had bonded quick. He had mistaken a time she had gone into an echo for something like his own frequent migraines. Thankfully, she had not taken it as an insult, and instead always helped him when they found the most inopportune times to show themselves. As soon as she finds out, she is at the door of his dorm with an elixir and some snacks.

He notices Krile smile as she sips her drink. It’s an obvious “I have a secret” kind of smile. A “I have a fun idea to tease my upperclassman” smile. If there is mischief, G’raha is more than glad to be her partner in crime.

Krile makes a loud swallow and speaks up. “Your lecture with him this week is tomorrow morning, correct?” The smile doesn’t leave her lips.

G’raha nods his head. “I suppose he has some news for his closest pupils?”

“I am not one to share it, but you are my friend, Raha. He’s decided to have a celebration for Valentione’s Day. Drinks, music, a bit of dancing if the others are up to it, and an absurdist lecture contest. Find some trivial fact about something, and expand on it in the most ridiculous, false ways. Then we decide who is the most convincing, and the winner gets two bottles of Bacchus Wine.”

His ears flick and tail pulls from his stomach. “Bacchus Wine? I remember some given to my family when I was young. Father liked it. Granted, it was comparatively inexpensive at the time and location compared to now and Sharlayan You see, the Bacchus Vine is—”

“I know,” she says. “I’ve heard both about what happened and how good it is. If I win, I’ll share it with you.”

“And the same is true in reverse, Krile. I best start thinking on a topic for that. Unless Master Baldesion has a gambit up his sleeve.”

Krile’s grin gives it away. “I can say with certainty he does, however, I am the sole person who knows what Father plans. All I can say is it’s something surprising.”

He takes a few sips of the tea, waiting for Krile to reveal more information, but the smile on her face doesn’t fade.

“Oh, are you expecting me to spoil that surprise for you, Raha? If I did, I’m sure the rumors about us would only increase. I already told you about the party he’s hosting.”

He stares for a moment too long. He’s not particularly fond of the stories he’s heard. His red eye causes less of a stir at the Studium than it did back home, but the whispers instead became about a possible courting fo Krile, and not for romantic reasons. He believes he once heard some Sharlayan-born student call him a “Social-Climbing Alley Cat.”

“I promise to do my best to look surprised when I hear Master Baldesion hand the invite my way. Now, what topic should I pick, regardless of the rules. Not something Allagan, too many would expect that of me. I know I found a few interesting facts about Amdapor in another class.”

Krile nods her head. “That’s the spirit, G’raha.”

Despite the cold, he feels on fire with this new passion in him.

The next day, he’s not certain the surprise he feigned was quite convincing enough. Master Baldesion let out a hearty laugh when he passed the silver envelope with the invitation to him.

The man keeps his voice low. “Your ears give it away, even if my daughter did not.” 

Still, the days fly by. He finds a fact about Mhachi void pacts, and one tied to a certain line, the Calowise family. While the carefully planned intermarriages he found in one book imply something sinister, he instead starts to make up a story about how it’s madness and arrogance which causes it, and a plan for them to take over Thavnair. He does his best to keep his tail still, ensuring it doesn’t give away how ridiculous the story is.

He has a few notes planned when he makes his way to the Baldesion household, tucked away in a warm suit. He also has a separate small piece of paper with only the topic, written as legibly as he could make it, as the invitation insisted.

Master Baldesion opens the door for him when he knocks, and he enters. He’s not the first arrival of the guests, but he’s not the last either. He finds an open bottle of a white wine. He looks around for Krile, to see if she has a drink yet, among other reasons. He feels more comfortable at these outings, even a year into his time at the Studium, when she’s near him. Someone who has grown up in Sharlayan, and the Studium in particular.

She’s talking with one of the two young students, prodigies, and grandchildren of the great Louisoix. While he’s tried his hardest to tell the two apart, he always fails. Whichever one, they have a bright blue ribbon in their hair. Wine already in hand. Well, perhaps later he’d have a better wine to offer her in a few hours.

G’raha walks over and smiles. “Good evening. How is everything?”

The Leveilleur stares at him, and their eyes narrow before they bury themself in what seems to be a sketchbook.

“Hello there Raha. I see you found the drinks. If you need the hors d'oeuvres, then I think they might be over —” She looks around for a second..”Ah, yes, By Alisaie there.” She gestures to the other Leveilleur. The one by them slinks away.

G’raha waves his hands “I’m fine with food. I had a couple miqobobs before I left.” His eyes dart to the Leveilleur with the book, now scribbling something in it, lost in his own world. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything between you two.”

“Alphinaud? No. I enjoy his company, but he can, at times, be too focused on his plans. Anyway, how are you doing on your thesis?”

G’raha smiles and lets himself enjoy the conversation and wine. A few bells pass and the room becomes more full of fellow students. The notes and slip of paper feel like they burn against his chest. G’raha starts to mouth the words he practiced since he made the topic.

Krile chuckles to herself. “Well, it is good you practiced, but I do not think it necessary.”

G’raha blinks and stops mid-word. “I beg pardon?”

Krile smiles and sets her drink aside. "I believe the wine got to me. I said too much. Mayhap we can dance. All the students here will be jealous of me were that the case."

"Jealous of me, more likely. You are quite popular, and not merely as our mentor's daughter."

She holds out her hand. "You underestimate your charisma, Raha. I know quite a few ladies and gents who would flirt if they didn't want to steal you from me. Not that they know you cannot be stolen from anyone."

G'raha takes it. He has picked up the dances of Sharlayan, and the two of them move together, sometimes him lifting her up, other times, meeting her on the ground. Either way, he makes sure to meet her eye. A few who hug the walls whisper to each other, and he wonders what it is they're saying.

After some time, their host comes, and smiles, commanding the attention of the room.

“I am glad to see a lovely turnout tonight. I hope you all have been having a wonderful Valentione’s Season here in Sharlayan.”

The man pauses, and there are a mix of answers.

“And I believe it is now time for the event I mentioned. All of you who are interested, I hope you brought an interesting fact with you. But if you didn’t, my daughter wrote up a few herself.”

G’raha steps up, along with a half-dozen others, including both Krile and the boy she spoke to, Alphinaud.

Baldesion picks up a bowl from behind him. In it are a few folded slips of paper. “Now, take your topics out, should you have one, and place it in this bowl. I hope none of you are too practiced on your mendacious elaborations, as my friend Urianger would call them, because once I mix these papers together, you should draw a different student’s trivia.”

G’raha freezes for a second, perhaps two. It could be anything. He had thought it would be fun to defy expectations, speak on a topic other than Allag. Still, in his courses during his prepared speeches, he did well. He can manage candid perfectly fine.

He pulls the slip with the simple fact _The Calowise lineage of black mages has evidence of existing centuries into the Sixth Astral Era_ out of his pocket and into the bowl. He hears some snickers behind his back.

Others follow him, and Master Baldesion mixes the parchments together. He speaks a few Allagan words spoken by prestidigtators. “And now, one by one, choose your fate. Remember, the story you tell about your trivia must be false, and you need speak for at least a minute on the topic.”

Each of them draw a paper, and he takes one folded neatly into a Doman star. In looping cursive, he reads the fact.

 _Late Allag had one hundred Miqo’te guards for the palace_.

He remembers that fact from a survey course his first year. It was not elaborated on beyond those words, but he remembered that night he had a vivid dream of protecting an Allagan princess. A daring adventure that he would find in one of the many novels he shared with Krile they had laughed over in the past.

Still the dream was fun, and as long as he doesn’t go into too much detail about certain parts of the dream, he’d be good.

“Now, I’ll give everyone five minutes to come up with their deceitful tales. After that, I’ll call you by name in alphabetical order.”

He spends the time well, picking up parts of the dream he likes, and how best to imply a certain moment between him and that princess. Mixing blood, perhaps? Shared family? Well, it would be quite hilarious if that was the story about his right eye.

He listens to the other speeches when Baldesion calls time. Two come before him before he hears the man ask for him. “G’raha, my brillian young Allagan Scholar. What webs do you have to spin for us?”

He clears his throat. “I hadn’t expected your choice to assign topics by lot. It seems I stay an Allagan Scholar tonight, for I have a wonderful tale tonight of the Late Allagan Military. It is known that while it was mixed, several regiments were restricted to certain races, Miqo’te guards among them, but did you all know what such closeness to the royal family begets?”

G’raha gives a grin, as if he expects a few chuckles. He continues to build on it for a while before he makes a bow.

Galuf laughs for a few moments. “Ah, I must admit that while I am certain you didn’t know it, everything you said was quite true.”

He blinks. “Ah? Is that a further rare fact?”

“Not quite,” his mentor says. “There are records of at least one Prince who had paramours with certain guards. It would be a topic coming in a moon or two for our lecture series on Allagan History. You delivered a most excellent speech, and are a strong contender.”

G’raha's ears perk at the news.

"Given your clear lack of knowledge on the subject, combined with you suggesting it was a princess, and not a prince who had done so, I think it fair to not deny you anything."

He takes a place in one of the other seats and half-listens to the others. Krile is the one who has the Calowise fact, and her bluff is better than what he made up. Something about dragons and starting the Dragonsong War.

After the rest have finished, Master Baldesion hands out slips of paper to everyone. "Now, those who presented cannot vote for themselves, but otherwise, vote for your favorite. I have some charcoal pieces here if you need a writing instrument."

He pulls out his own and writes down his choice. When the bowl is passed around, he sets it in.

Master Baldesion looks over the couple dozen votes.

"In third place, oddly, several voted for G'raha, despite the veracity. One of them wrote they had not thought Allagan royalty could be so hedonistic."

He has to smile at that. He doesn't know who wrote that, though probably an underclassman.

"In second place is Master Raphael and his skill of discussing the Fifth Umbral Calamity being caused by Dalamud almost leaving orbit of our planet."

G'raha chuckles, and he hears others as well.

"In first place is Krile's amazing bluff about the Calowise Family. I hope you all did not vote for her because she was my daughter."

Some of the students deny the claim, insisting it was her speaking skills instead.

Baldesion hands over the two bottles to his daughter. He kneels down and gives her a kiss on the forehead before she makes her way over to G'raha.

"I could not have done this without you, you know."

He blinks and looks away. "I don't know what you're talking about. The story was all your own."

Krile waits until the attention is no longer on her and she hands a bottle to him. "I know your scrawl Raha. You may have ended up with an Allagan fact to speak about, but you did some interesting research about a powerful Mhachi family. I might do my own research on various lineages of the late Fifth Astral Era in my own time. So please, take one of my bottles. You deserve it."

G'raha looks at the bottle, the dark green glass he knows often comes from Lominsan wines, a label marking a year not too long ago, despite the count starting anew. He can almost smell the wine through the cork.

A few tears come to his eye. "Thank you. You needn't have done this."

"Well, if you don't want to try your father's favorite wine, I can always take the bottle back."

He hugs the wine. "No, no. You gave it to me Krile. But I definitely owe you something for this. I don't know what I can do to pay back this debt, but I know I'll find it."

"I don't know what debt you mention. You gave me a most excellent prompt to build on. Though, if you must do something, remember you placed third in this game, Raha. You are more liked than you think you are. Almost all near me voted for you."

G'raha smiles and looks at the wine. "If that's the price for this lovely gift, I'll be sure to remember it. Perhaps you can give me some names, even?"

He holds out his hand.

Krile slaps it away. "Are you cheating on me, G'raha Tia?" She has a smile on her face, and tone betrays the tongue in her cheek. "I would hate for others to know I am quite available."

"You're charming, you will find another friend to shield you from lovely advances."

She rolls her eyes. "What monster have I unleashed in you, Raha?"

"Very well, keep your secrets. Perhaps I may find one myself, another day."

G'raha watches her smile. "When you find someone, please, introduce me."

He pumps his free hand. "You bet I will."

"Along with all the names of any ladies and gents who are jealous of you."

Krile chuckles. "That, I'll save for another day."

**Author's Note:**

> Admittedly, the mention of the Calowise family is a bit of a stretch, but given that _Nightkin_ was found in the Great Gubal Library, and there were records that X'rhun Tia managed to look up regarding Arya's family, I don't think it's too much of a stretch that a dedicated scholar-in-training could have found some of the same information, though I figure the actual contract with Lilith would be hard to uncover.


End file.
